After ending their century-long championship drought in 2016, the Cubs struggled to maintain that level of competitiveness despite their talented roster, resulting in a massive sell-off at the 2021 trade deadline that is currently yielding promising results as the club works its way back towards contention. Though the club added quality players like Marcus Stroman, Seiya Suzuki, and Yan Gomes ahead of the 2022 season, it was nonetheless a clear rebuilding year for the Cubs as they looked to turn the page on the previous core and begin to build around younger players like Nico Hoerner and Justin Steele.
After a surprisingly strong finish to the 2022 campaign where the club posted a 40-31 record over the season’s final ten weeks, the Cubs looked to jump-start their return to contention with a significant financial outlay over the offseason. While the club downgraded at catcher by swapping out three-time All Star Willson Contreras for Tucker Barnhart, the club shored up the rotation with multiyear deals for Jameson Taillon and Drew Smyly and plugged a hole in center field by landing Cody Bellinger on a one-year deal.
Most importantly, the Cubs acquired a new face of the franchise by offering Dansby Swanson a seven-year deal worth $177MM. Early in the season, the club also extended both Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ through the end of the 2026 season, a further sign the team is committed to its current core of Swanson, Hoerner, Happ, Suzuki, and Steele. Unfortunately for Cubs fans, those deals have done little to pull the Cubs back into contention, as the team sports a 27-36 record as they sit 6.5 games out of a playoff spot while looking up at the Pirates, Brewers, and Reds in a weak NL Central division.
Still, the club has struggled to stay in the race, thanks in part to the struggles of many of those signings. Taillon has struggled through injuries and ineffectiveness in ten starts this season, Barnhart sports an OPS of just .433 and appears to have been supplanted by Miguel Amaya as Gomes’s primary backup, and the club’s offseason bullpen signings of Brad Boxberger and Michael Fulmer have combined for a whopping 27 earned runs in 41 innings of work.
That isn’t to say the moves president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and his front office made this past offseason were all mistakes; in fact, many of them have proven savvy in the early going. Swanson leads the quarter of star shortstops who hit free agency over the offseason in terms of both wRC+ and fWAR this season despite signing the smallest contract of the group, Bellinger has bounced back from two difficult seasons in LA to post above-average offensive numbers for the Cubs while Smyly has proven to be a stabilizing force in the club’s rotation with a 3.27 ERA (136 ERA+) in 13 starts for the Cubs this season.
The club has faced particularly significant issues on offense, with 267 runs scored in 2023, a figure that places them tied with the Padres for fourth-worst in the NL. With Bellinger, Happ, Suzuki, and Mike Tauchman posting strong numbers in the outfield while Swanson and Hoerner have been largely successful up the middle, the biggest culprits in the club’s lack of offense are the infield corners and the DH slot. The Cubs rank 22nd in the majors in terms of wRC+ at DH, 27th at third base, and 29th at first base.
With three key spots most lineups rely on to generate offense doing so at a well below-average rate, it’s no wonder the Cubs have frustrated with offensive struggles despite significant individual successes in 2023. To make matters worse, the club shipped out a pair of players in recent years who have proven to be major assets for their current clubs and would have surely shored up Chicago’s offense had they stuck on the roster.
Prior to the 2022 campaign, the Cubs traded right-handed slugger Harold Ramirez to the Rays for minor league infielder Esteban Quiroz just months after acquiring Ramirez from Cleveland. This move paved the way for the club to roster the likes of Michael Hermosillo and Clint Frazier as the 2022 season began, though both players struggled mightily, posting wRC+ figures of 16 and 87 during their time with the Cubs, respectively. Since joining the Rays, meanwhile, Ramirez has blossomed into a phenomenal slugger, with a .298/.342/.436 slash line (125 wRC+) in 170 games while playing first base, DH, and the outfield corners.
Had the Cubs held onto Ramirez, it seems likely they wouldn’t have felt the need to sign Mancini to fill a similar role this past offseason, opening up resources that could have been used to address a bullpen that ranks bottom four in the NL with a 4.53 ERA while improving significantly on Mancini’s own 83 wRC+ in 51 games this season.
As for third base, the Cubs entered spring training this season with a trio of infielders in consideration for two Opening Day roster spots: Nick Madrigal, Miles Mastrobuoni, and Zach McKinstry. Ultimately, McKinstry was shipped to Detroit in exchange for minor league reliever Carlos Guzman. That decision has proved to be another significant mistake, as Madrigal and Mastrobuoni have combined for -0.4 fWAR for the Cubs this season, with Madrigal’s 60 wRC+ in 35 games leading the duo offensively.
McKinstry, meanwhile, has gone on to post a breakout season for the Tigers. While playing second base, third base, shortstop, and both outfield corners, the 28-year-old utility player has posted a solid .256/.360/.388 slash line in 54 games that’s good for a wRC+ of 115. Had McKinstry remained with the Cubs, he could have shored up third base alongside Patrick Wisdom, who has struggled to a .149/.253/.310 slash line since the beginning of May, while also filling in elsewhere around the diamond during stints on the injured list for regulars like Suzuki and Hoerner.
In addition to the assistance both Ramirez and McKinstry could have provided the Cubs this season, each is controllable beyond the current campaign. The duo is expected to hit free agency after the 2025 and 2027 seasons, respectively, meaning both could have be key pieces in the lineup or on the bench with Chicago for years to come.
Many of the bigger moves the Cubs have made in recent years, such as the signings of Swanson, Stroman, and Suzuki, have worked out well to this point. Despite those successes, however, missteps regarding Ramirez and McKinstry have highlighted the importance of making the right moves at the margins when attempting to return to contention. Unless Wisdom, Christopher Morel, Trey Mancini, and Matt Mervis can collectively provide the internal improvements necessary at the infield corners to spark the offense going forward, the Cubs figure to enter the 2023-24 offseason with improving at the infield corners at the top of their to-do list.
This article seems unnecessary
Your comment seems unnecessary
Hahah good one
Go Cubs go
Go Cubs go
Around the bowl
And down the hole
This is the way you will go.
Go Cubs go
Go Cubs go
Around the bowl
And down the hole
This is the way you will go…
Everything seems to go down a hole.
I disagree. This article is great.
No, it’s not. It sheds no new light on anything. And as far as the ‘what ifs?’go- There must be 20 teams that made additions or subtractions you could point to as mistakes. Nothing “great” about.
I don’t think any Cubs fans but Nick Deeds lament trading away Ramirez or McKinstry. They do lament the Cubs’ poor clutch hitting and the bullpens losing games during 2023.
How so? The author is even omitting the fact that Harold Ramirez did not show up for spring, and therefore, the Cubs couldn’t give him a spot over a player that played through it and earned it.
Same with McKinstry… He had like 2 or 3 hits all spring… Was he supposed to make the team like that?
yea not sure dansbys .258 6 hr’s is worth the 177 million aka freeman money, they gave him
His defense is elite to aid those numbers. Better to pay him those dollars than to Contreras.
And now the second base hole is well filled, much needed the past several years.
You are aware that Contreras didn’t even get half as much as Swanson, right?
True, but if the Cubs paid the 20M/yr that Contreras wanted (didn’t get), they wouldn’t have been able to to get Swanson at 27M/yr and they would have still had to find a good second baseman. This way, the got to move Nico.
The writers’ goal is clicks and reads. You clicked, read, AND commented. I’d say the article did its job.
You mean SS.
They got a second baseman because their top tier shortstop in Horner moved.
With you being a Braves fan, and ne being a Cubs fan, we’re both likely a but biased. That said, who looks at batting average as a determining factor in overall offensive performance? I’ll grant you his 6 home runs has been a little underwhelming, but his OBP is solid. Meanwhile, he’s one of the best defensive shortstops in the game to this point. And the other top 3 free agent shortstops aren’t doing better than he is So, when you consider that, along with his leadership and combined with his being the lowest cost contract, I would agree he’s
been a successful signing. But Hoyer is not good at his job. I think we are beginning to see that it was Theo, and not Jed, that was instrumental in building the championship Cubs team.
Yeah, what is crazy is that all of a sudden Dansby learned how to take a walk, and he’s taken quite a few this season thus far.
He’s currently on pace to shatter his career averages when it comes to walks, and that has significantly helped boost his offensive profile this year.
As a Braves fan, I miss Dansby, and especially his defense. Although, admittingly he didn’t start out being the GG caliber defender he is now. He’s worked extremely hard, and slowly but surely gotten better and better over the years.
It seems like his power is down a little bit this year, but that could change at any moment honestly. Dansby is certainly prone to some hot and cold spells, but when he’s hot and hitting opposite field bombs, he’s dang fun to watch!!
It was just watching him get through his cold slumps was pretty tough at times and extremely frustrating. Although, now, if he can continue his great eye at the plate, that should really help boost his production even when he is going through those cold spells..
Last I checked, Swanson was currently 1-19 with a single, 9Ks, and only 2BB over his last 5 games. Hopefully, he’ll be able to turn it around soon enough, snap out of it, go on one of his tares, and continue withhis solod season thus far. I’ve truthfully never witnessed such a streaky hitter ever, where they’re either fire hot or ice cold…Well, scratch that…Adam Duvall might have Dansby beat..lol
Duvall would go from hitting like .150-.200 in a slump while striking out in over half of his ABs, and occasionally running into a bomb, to all of a sudden carrying his ball club, mashing the ball, hitting .350 with a HR every 7-8ABs, smacking doubles, and driving in anyone on base in front of him…Absolutely crazy to watch, like split personalities…lol
Anyways, Dansby is sporting some really good numbers overall even with his current 5 game lull, and he’s already accumulated 2.5WAR for the season, which is GREAT for the Cubs and Swanson. I hope he keeps it up, he certainly deserves all the success he had with the Braves and will continue to have as a Cub.
Duvall has always been like that.
@rich You have to place Ozuna on that streaky hitter list and Arcia has stepped up to fill that SS hole nicely for a fraction of the cost. As a Braves fan, I don’t miss Swanson at that price
watching him for the past 7 years is my determining factor.
I disagree… In fact, Swanson has been the best out of the big 4 SS from last offseason and his .358 obp is pretty good.
His defense has also been elite.
This article is missing that Morel got off to one the hottest starts in MLB history, then rapidly cooled off. But yeah… they’re not ready. I still think Ian Happ & Seiya Suzuki in reality are situational players on a really good team & not everyday guys. Bellinger’s talent is there, but he’s the new Kris Bryant. Wisdom at best is a platoon bat. Even with me comparing him to Dave Kingman, he’s mired in a putrid slump for even his standards. Swanson & Hoerner are fine like the tide, high & low depending on when you ask. Mancini has improved on his Astros tenure but is still pretty bad and should be strictly a DH. Mervis, like Morel, the talent is there, but the lumps in the mashed potatoes remain. Both have caught alot of bad breaks, but they’ve also sucked, Mervis especially. He’s not there yet. Gomes & Amaya look good, Barnhart should’ve been DFA’d ages ago. Madrigal looks like a bust as well and Mastrobuonio or whatever his name is is dead weight. Tauchman is alright… so far. Stroman, Smyly, and for the most part Steele have been revelations. But after that it’s the drizzling s***s. Leiter, Jr. is okay, sometimes. Same with Azolay. Wesneski is a future ace closer imo, but I don’t think starter, not long-term. Hughes has been kinda injured, who knows. In the coming weeks they really should try to sell what they can, especially Stroman & Smyly if possible. They’ve been excellent. Help restock the farm even more. This year is still winnable, but why bother. Alot of bad on this team.
Wow. Like they say hindsight is 20/20. What a joke of an article! This could be applied to every team in Mlb if you bc wanna dig into it. Did the writer even take the time to look up what McKinstry did with the Cubs? And how about Ramirez failing to even report to spring training? I doubt it. Waste of time & words.
Ur just so close, soooo close to the point. If they suck with the Cubs, but multiple guys are good elsewhere, are we SURE the Cubs scouting and development is not the problem.
Im a phillies fan, and the fact that we’ve now had multiple pitchers during the phils rebuild go on to new teams to have more success is why we tend to think the phillies were the problem.
That’s gonna happen to just about everybody, but the Cubs actually have a good track record of getting journeymen and “fixing” them… Thats what happens when you’re a seller most of the time.
Dodgers missed McKinstry’s 1/3 of a season’s greatness. Pittsburgh, Toronto, Miami and Cleveland all gave up on Ramirez before the Cubs released him. Both older players. Neither one showed much of anything to suggest that there is wide spread issues with scouting a development.
McKinstry specifically, is a utility player. I can’t think of an issue further down the list of issues for the Cubs this year. His 4 HR and 10 RBI in 200 PAs don’t move the needle. Also, McKinstry’s production is falling like a lead balloon the last 2 weeks. Good thing the writer wrote this article now, instead of at the end of July.
Don’t forget the wasted ABs on Hosmer
Oh because Mervis is setting the world on fire… OK.
Yeah, this comment would be relevant if Mervis was producing. Even at that Hosmer was productive in April and only had 22 ABs in May when the Cubs cut bait. I really doubt those ABs changed the Cubs trajectory or stunted Mervis’ development.
I havent followed the Cubs all season, but just watched three games against the Angels and they didnt look good. Maybe these games were not indicative of their season, but the Cubs played poor defensively and the bullpen was bad. In one game, in one inning, the Cubs brought in two RPs that faced four batters apiece and did not record a single out… it was brutal. Based on the small sample size I saw, the Cubs will be sellers at the deadline.
Defense was worse than usual… But make no mistake, these are the real Cubs since the start of May.
Morel is comp to McKinstry. The only problems have been Mervis and Fullmer. The Cubs needs an elite hitter for 1B or DH and a reliever to go with Alzolay and Leiter. And extend Stroman.
You cannot force a guy to sign but I really wanted JD Martinez to DH for the Cubs. The Cubs have a decent line up but lacked a middle of the order which is why the offense is in such a rut. Wisdom is fine for the most part as long as you only have one Wisdom in the order and he’s hitting 7,8 or 9.
I liked the Cubs off season aside from Fulmer, Boxberburger and Mancini, to a lesser extent Mastrobuoni. What should have been other than those three guys are killing us (along with Ross)
‘With Bellinger, Happ, Suzuki, and Mike Tauchman posting strong numbers in the outfield’
Huh?
Happ’s power has evaporated, Bellinger’s been out for a month, Suzuki is underwhelming (again), and Tauchman is a placeholder.
Ramirez may have never hit the same for the Cubs as he has for the Rays. The Cubs tried to jump start contention before they were ready and it has failed miserably
Disagree, this year wasn’t about contending. This year was about getting a guy like Swanson when he was available, but more about giving their prospects another year to develop and evaluate which prospects will be able to contribute. At the end of the year having a good idea of what holes they need to fill. “Responsible spending” was about maintaining payroll flexibility for the offseason. It was never about spending to make a run this year.
And hopefully after evaluating this year, Hoyer will realize that Ross is not the answer.
“Since joining the Rays, meanwhile, Ramirez has blossomed into a phenomenal slugger, with a .298/.342/.436 slash line (125 wRC+) in 170 games while playing first base, DH, and the outfield corners.
Had the Cubs held onto Ramirez, it seems likely they wouldn’t have felt the need to sign Mancini to fill a similar role this past offseason……”.
This is fantasy league thinking – a player that has a good year would have had it if he previous team kept him.
MLB today is about teams Baseball Ops organizations. The good organizations make the players they have under contract better. It’s a combination of their analytical and video people along with their coaching staff.
Cleveland – badly in need of a big RH run producing bat – couldn’t get much out of Ramirez, and neither could the Cubs. The Rays knew how to turn his game as they have with so many players.
The Cubs problem is that Hoyer has not built a strong overall organization. He was supposedly focusing on their pitching this offseason and in fact the Cubs are 6th in NL ERA this year. Now they need to focus on developing their position players on O and D.
McKinstry is above average while playing almost full time. Would the Cubs have been able to provide him that level of ABs?
McKinstry will revert to his former self soon enough. He got off to a fast start with the Cubs also. Fact is none of those trades listed is a sign of anything to do with the Cubs right now as they were all here and stunk. That’s all I need to know. If they do anything for somebody else fine. The failure of the Cubs this year can be laid at the feet of Hoyer’s bullpen miscues. He went into a season playing to win with defense and pitching. With no closer! Brutal mistake. I didn’t think Boxberger and Fulmer were bad additions. Neither did anyone else. They’ve both been godawful. I didn’t see that coming.There are too many guys who swing and miss and very few people getting it done in the bullpen and that’s the whole story in a nutshell If they don’t get it figured out soon they might as well have another sell off and look to FA to find an Ace and an RBI guy. Probably have to trade to get an Ace unless they want to toss serious money at Ohtani.
Article uses struggle or struggled at least 7 times. So I guess the Cubs are struggling.
At least the author didn’t over use “whooping”
Late season wins is fools gold
The Cubs won a lot of games late last season due to guys pitching better than they were. Assad, Sampson and Wesneski were lights out while Keegan was equally lights out when coming in as relief.
There was a lot of talk about the cubs turning the corner, I didn’t see it. Of course, to me this should be a slightly better than .500 team that would take a step back next year due to all the free agents.
The good news is Stroman and Bellinger, assuming they keep it up, should net a strong return. Ross is screwing Hendricks with Amaya imo but what do I know, I’m just going off stats (that state Hendricks is good with Gomes, terrible with anyone else)
Hendricks is tossing a no hitter with Amaya in the 6th.
Cubs made so many moves. some of them work. However, the law of ham and Eggers applies here. They do well in some situations, but they revert to their averagesYou only need a few stars to compensate for their up and downs. The Cubs only have 2 0r 3 stars. Patience needed,
I always believed Ramirez had the tools. McKinstry benefitting from change of league. Not worth a roster spot. He will revert to batting his weight by August.
Agreed. McKinstry was a AAAA player until he landed in DET who had as many ABs as he could handle. He’ll either revert to the McKinstry we all know or he could be the next Jeff Kent.
A poorly written article designed solely to get page clicks on a slow news day. You win, MLBTR. Look at the elementary school style that the final paragraph summarizes everything. Come on.
“Meanwhile” belongs at the start of the sentence, not in the middle of it, set off by commas. Also, maybe learn a new word? It’s a bit boring to see it multiple times in one article.